Avengers: Infinity War Featured a 45 Minute Deleted Sequence Involving Thanos

Avengers: Infinity War has marked a special in cinema history, as one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

The film culminated ten years of storytelling through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began with 2008’s Iron Man, as the extended Avengers fought off a universal threat in Thanos.

The Mad Titan was teased as the MCU’s big bad for years, before he began his onslaught after obtaining all the Infinity Stones. The antagonist’s journey to becoming the most powerful entity in the universe began with his attempts to gain the Power Stone from the Nova Corps in Xandar.

The Anthony and Joe Russo-directed film never showcased how Thanos obtained the stone. In the MCU timeline, the purple Infinity Stone was found by Peter Quill, before it was intercepted by Thanos’ stooge, Ronan the Accuser. Following a dance-off in Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill won the stone back, before he gave it to the Nova Corps in Xandar for safekeeping.

However, when Infinity War began with the destruction of the spaceship carrying Asgard survivors including Loki and Thor, Thanos had already possessed the Power Stone. It meant that The Mad Titan had somehow obtained it by defeating the Nova Corps off-screen.

But, in a recent interview with Jim Starlin on the Near Mint Condition YouTube channel (via Screen Rant), the Thanos creator shared that the Russo brothers had shot a 45-minute sequence, which saw Thanos destroying the Nova Corps and Xandar in his attempts to get the Power Stone.

However, the director duo had to cut the scene from the 149-minute-long film to keep the budget from bloating due to the additional VFX and to keep the runtime in check. “They shot it, but they never wanted to spend the money on the effects,” said Starlin. “They didn’t want the movie to be as long as the second one was.”

Starlin later stated that the Russo Brothers had plans to include some of it for the film’s release on Home Media and DVD. However, the scene never materialised.